


How to Solve a Riddle

by peppermage



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Murder Mystery, Mystery, Original Character(s), Prequel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-20 07:55:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30001710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peppermage/pseuds/peppermage
Summary: (original story)A popular socialite named Hepzibah Smith is murdered in her own home and the entire wizarding world is demanding to know who did it.The Minister, Wilhemina Tuft, assigns the case to three new aurors who must head one of the most difficult and turbulent cases of the decade. They must rely on their wits, connections, and each other to get through it.
Relationships: Alphard Black/Original Female Character(s), Rufus Scrimgeour/Original Male Character(s)
Kudos: 2





	1. Case One: Perfection

**_Hepzibah Smith’s House-_ **

"Tea would be lovely," Tom Riddle had said, his pale face smiling at the older woman.

The woman was the epitome of the word phoney; her round face caked heavily with makeup, rolls of garishly pink velvet draped elegantly around her to form the basic shape of a gown. Hepzibah Smith looked every bit the part of the rich, materialistic socialite the world pinned her out to be. 

We all have our obsessions, but none of them compare to Mrs. Smith’s obsession with the word _perfection_ . You could see by the pristine marble floors and the markless white walls that she made sure everything was just as it should be, _perfect_.

There was a rumor that went around about Hepzibah Smith only allowing the finest and fairest into her house. Evidently, Tom Riddle fit the bill. 

Even with a low paying job at a shitty pawn shop, the boy didn’t even have to try to look perfect and was always allowed right into the foyer of the mansion. Hepzibah Smith was sort of a client of his, someone whom he had been visiting for a long time. She was delighted to be assigned to him, to someone as lovely as Tom Riddle was.

Pulled out of her trance, she smiled at Tom Riddle and snapped her fingers to summon what would be the smudge of imperfection in the room. 

A little elf, topping out at around three feet, stumbled into the elegant sitting room. Her name was Hokey, and she was the only ugly thing that Hepzibah Smith owned. Having been passed down to her by her old husband, she had to keep the little thing around. 

“Get me and Mr. Riddle some tea,” the old woman drawled as she stared devilishly into the watery eyes of the elf. 

“Yes ma’am right away Mrs. Smith,” Hokey muttered, trotting towards the kitchen which was adjacent to the sitting room. On her way, she tripped on her own clothes.

Hepzibah laughed. _What a ridiculous little thing._

Unbeknownst to her, the house elf's eyes glimmered up at her. Hokey was jealous, and not in a good way. This new boy had taken all of the attention from Miss Hepzibah without doing her chores or her laundry. He got it for free.

Hokey dared to look back at Tom Riddle, who was admiring the piece of Goblin-made armor that he was attempting to pawn off of Miss Hepzibah. All of a sudden, he tilted his head towards the house elf and locked eyes with her. It was a horrifying stare, the kind that could kill. Hokey's breathing became quicker as she stumbled to reach the tea set.

"Now Tom, I have something very special to show you. I think that you, out of all people, would like it because of your business and the kind of work you do," Hepzibah cooed from the sitting room.

Hokey carried in a tray full of tea and stood right by the woman’s side. She watched as her master tutted at the tea set, turning to face the little elf: “Oh, Hokey. Get me and Mr. Riddle some sugar," she said, the whites showing around her eyes.

Hokey yelped as she was kicked in the back by Hepzibah's pointed flat. She was walking away when she heard Tom Riddle say, "Please Mrs. Smith, it's Tom."

Hokey stomped all the way to the kitchen as she grabbed the sugar bowl. When it felt how light the bowl was, she peered inside to see that there was no sugar left. _Stupid Miss Hepzibah, never filling up the sugar bowl._

Hokey walked into the door frame on her way to the pantry and almost shattered the sugar bowl. She looked towards the meeting room where Miss Hepzibah sat to see if she was worried about the loud noise.

She was too busy flirting with Tom Riddle to notice.

Hokey grabbed the nearest bin and filled the bowl up to the brim with sugar. She then stumbled on her way back to her master and heard Hepzibah laugh, "Oh Tom, you are too funny. But really, this cup belonged to my ancestor."

"You are related to Helga Hufflepuff?" Tom asked.

"Oh yes. I have been seeking to collect all of the relics that I can from the founders at Hogwarts. I already have objects from two of the four," Hepzibah said, holding up her chubby fingers.

"Which ones are you missing?" Tom asked, moving to sit closer to the edge of the couch.

"Why do you want to know?" Hepzibah breathed, her faux peppermint smell overwhelming the room.

He leaned forward and put his hand on the woman’s knee. “Curiosity,” he whispered in the older woman’s ear.

She felt her heart race as she stared into Tom Riddle’s smiling face. “Godric Gryffindor's sword which Dumbledore won't give up and Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem. Those are the two I’m missing, darling.”

"So you have the locket?" Tom asked, leaning back into his seat on the couch.

"Of course I do," Hepzibah paused for a second and then yelled, "Where is that damned house elf? It was supposed to be here already!"

Hokey then walked into the view of the room, the bowl almost toppling to the floor as she offered it to Miss Hepzibah. "Hokey sorry for the wait, Miss Hepzibah."

"That is fine, house elf. Now leave; this is official business."

That was the last thing Hokey heard before it all happened. The little elf had a plan, and she would do anything to carry it out. Stupid Tom Riddle, always ruining Hokey’s fun.


	2. Take it or Leave it

**_Auror Offices, Ministry of Magic, 1956-_ **

Catherine heard the soft clinking of the Minister's heels even before they passed through the doorway into the Auror Offices.

The offices were a labyrinth of cubicles, all of them with their own unique decorations. Surprisingly, the offices were more or less empty. A few aurors buzzed about, but everyone ignored each other. It was unusual for her to see so many people in the offices. Usually, she was the only one who had to stay this late at night.

Catherine then sighed, realizing why everyone was here and why the Minister would be walking in. That morning, a woman named Hepzibah Smith was killed. Currently, they had not made any leeway on the case and had no evidence to go off of.

Because of the murder, almost all of the aurors switched cases immediately. A murder was the most action that the department had seen since the defeat of Grindelwald in 1945.

Catherine sat at her desk, her eyes glued to a newspaper article. She was a young woman, no older than twenty-eight, with wild hair that always seemed to be in her face. The only special thing that she wore was a shining ring on her left hand. She looked just the opposite of the beautiful Minister who had just entered the cluttered offices. The Minister, Wilhelmina Tuft, wore a stunning dress, with a pearl necklace that hugged the base of her throat.

The Minister rarely walked into the offices, only strolling in to satisfy reporters. But this time, Catherine learned, the Minister had a graver subject at hand.

When aurors are given a case, they usually wait to be addressed by a superior before they start working. Because of the violent nature of the Hepzibah Smith case, all of the aurors started to work on it before a superior addressed them. Depending on who was deemed the best for the case, they all stood a chance to be picked as the leader for that specific case. It got competitive and, despite working at the Ministry for nine years now, Catherine had never been chosen to lead a case, which was why it was so unusual that the Minister was walking right towards her.

"Miss Williams, I would like to speak to you about that woman's death," said Wilhelmina Tuft. The Minister's emerald-green eyes sparkled from over the stack of papers that sat piled in the corner of Catherine's desk.

Catherine stood up and nervously beckoned for the Minister to join her, "Yes, Minister. Please sit. Would you like some tea?” Catherine’s face molded into a smile as she got off-topic, “Old man Travers always makes too much tea on Mondays. Blames it on the wife. I think he's pissed that he's stuck here, instead of retired."

"Oh, tea sounds lovely dear. You're probably wondering what I am doing here…” the elegant woman trailed off, twiddling her thumbs, “I would like to discuss someone of interest in your new case."

Catherine flicked her wand and two cups full of brown liquid floated from another cubicle and landed with a soft clink on Catherine's desk. Catherine then picked up the cup to take a sip when Tuft said, "Tom Riddle."

Catherine choked on her tea and cocked her head in question, "Tom- Tom Riddle?"

"Yes, Tom Riddle was the employee who talked to Hepzibah Smi-"

Catherine interrupted her, "Did you question him yet?"

"We haven't questioned him yet. I was hoping since both of you went to school together that you would want to lead the case on Hepzibah Smith's murder."

Catherine's eyes widened. In her mind, she was stuck somewhere between throwing a fit and demanding a reason and crying out of happiness. "Yes, o-of course I'll question him, Minister! Oh thank you so much for this opportunity! You won't regret it!" Catherine cheered while she vigorously shook the Minister's hand.

Tuft laughed and cheerfully said, "Alright, Miss Williams! Good luck with the case!"

Catherine smiled and stood up to walk the Minister out of the room. The stout woman was already approaching the elevators when Catherine realized something:

"Wait!" she called after the Minister. The other woman turned around and Catherine ran to meet with her in the middle of the hallway, "I might not be the person for the job. I knew Tom in a different way. A way that might be considered to be-"

"Unprofessional? Yes, I looked through your file before I even thought about approaching you. A prefect, top of her class, star Quidditch Keeper for three years and an in-depth knowledge of the prime suspect."

Catherine, who was terrible at recognizing compliments, ignored this and asked, "Forgive me, but why do you care so much about him?"

"Well, he was the only person who saw Miss Smith the day she was killed," the Minister said. She then leaned in close to Catherine and added, "I also found it curious when Tom Riddle refused a job in the Ministry. My predecessor, Leonard, personally asked if Mr. Riddle wanted to work for him."

Leonard Spencer-Moon, along with the Minster herself, focused on hiring the best of the best of the young people for the Ministry. The students who were deemed to be the best of their class were basically guaranteed jobs as soon as they stepped foot out of Hogwarts.

The Minister then turned on her heel and walked away. Catherine turned the opposite way and walked back to her cubicle in shame. She then slumped back at her desk.  _ How could she face him after all of this time?  _ She sighed and stirred her tea mindlessly as she looked at the pictures on the wall of her cubicle:

All of the pictures were of objects Catherine had been searching for since she joined the Ministry. They were worth a miniature fortune and most were apparently owned by Hepzibah Smith. 

Her mother had told her stories on the magical properties within these antiquities and Catherine wanted to make sure that they were kept safe from any dark magic. Catherine had tried to persuade the Head Auror to take the case, but all he told her was to help other aurors out instead. 

She was immediately assisting her dear friend in a case that involved the death of an Albanian muggle.  _ Maybe he could help with the case _ , Catherine pondered as she picked out the old case file from under her large stack of paperwork. She flipped open the case and began to read it:

**_Albania, 1955-_ **

_ "Scrimgeour called me all the way out here to see something," Catherine had said. She was wrapped in a long, black trench coat, gifted to her by the same man who had dragged her out here, Rufus Scrimgeour. He was delighted that she was to help with the case and sent her a letter the night before that told her to apparate to Albania to meet him. _

_ "Oh yeah, Scrimgeour will be here in a second to show you what we found. The local muggle authorities called it a heart attack, and the local Ministry is trying to catch a lead. No marks, no welts... definitely the work of a killing curse," an auror named Garrick Gore said, looking at his watch, its second marker slowly ticking towards the twelve, "Any second..." _

_ Exactly on time, Rufus apparated next to Catherine and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. He then pointed at his watch. "Exactly nine o'clock Whitehall time," he said, slyly removing his scarf and putting it around Catherine's shoulders. He then straightened his metal-framed glasses to sit straight on top of his crooked nose and turned to Garrick, who looked impressed. _

_ "This is why you would make a hell of a Minister, Scrimgeour," Garrick said. He then smiled and added, "Now who wants to see a dead body?" _

_ Garrick and Rufus were the best of friends ever since they went to Hogwarts. They were put in the year below Catherine, despite Rufus only being a few months younger than her. It was easy to tell that they were friends because they were matching sets to each other: Rufus was outgoing when Garrick was serious. Rufus preferred to keep his demeanor rugged, while Garrick was clean-cut. If they had anything alike, it was their talent for finding leads in a hopeless case. _

_ Garrick led the way as they walked down a roughly made path to where a patch of aurors stood. As they approached, Rufus tilted his head towards Catherine's ear. In a gruff voice he whispered, "Take out your badge, don't look them in the eye. These are shady folks, Catherine.” _

_ Catherine fumbled in the big pockets of Rufus's coat to pull out her badge. In a gloved hand, Rufus moved her fingers to block her name and ID picture.  _

_ Catherine rolled her eyes as Rufus continued, “Oh, and don't talk to these blokes either. They're suspicious of us because of the times. I heard that they're not letting the Americans even see the body," Rufus said, smiling at one of the Aurors. He promptly shoved Catherine away and started talking to the auror in his own broken Albanian. _

_ Catherine scoffed and held up her badge. The aurors nodded their approval and spoke in a rushed language to each other. She then got her first glimpse of the body. _

_ The woman laid on the ground right in front of Catherine, who swooped down to take a better look. The woman's brown eyes were staring straight up, a look of surprise on her face. It was normal for someone who was killed using the Unforgivable Curse to look surprised, so Catherine thought nothing of it.  _

_ She looked back at the woman's dress. A few loose threads suggested that she had embroidered it herself. It was off-white and dirty, a sign that the woman worked hard. Catherine's eyebrows were now touching as she looked at the woman's hands.  _

_ They were worn, but there was something on them. Catherine reached out a hand to pry them apart as an Albanian auror started to yell at her. Scared, Catherine retreated from the poor woman's corpse and turned to look at the scenery around the murder. _

_ No footprints, nothing out of the ordinary... It looked like a hit and run scenario, most likely a misfire. Garrick came up from behind her and started to look in trees. Catherine followed suit, looking inside the knots on pine trees.  _

_ All of the knots were way too shallow to hold anything bigger than an acorn, but one tree had an abnormally large knot right in its center. She walked over to it and looked inside to see a shine of metal in it. She peered farther in to see what it was until a hand grabbed her shoulder. _

_ Garrick stood there and said, "We have to go, now." _

_ Catherine gave a last glimpse at the tree and followed Garrick back to where Rufus was standing. _


	3. Another Terrible Day

**_Auror Offices, Ministry of Magic, 1956-_ **

Catherine was suddenly brought back from her trance when she looked at her watch. The time was 7:30 pm, which was way too late to be at work, even by her own standards. She laughed to herself and gathered her things but kept a pen and paper in her hand in case an idea entered her head. The leaders of cases needed to be ready for anything.

Clumsily walking out of her cubicle, she ran right into another auror. She looked up to see Rufus's surprised face, which immediately grew into a smile.

"What do you have there?" he asked. He was dressed in a green sweater vest and looked like an old librarian. His tawny hair was starting to grow out of control, now covering his ears. His glasses were crooked on his nose, which was swollen after he was punched the week before. As if he could feel Catherine's eyes drift to his face, he subconsciously pushed his glasses farther up the bridge of his nose.

"I need to leave. I don't have the time to tell you," Catherine said as she passed him.

"Care to tell me on my way to the atrium then? You can still make it home to Al in time," Rufus asked, holding out his arm out to her. Catherine brushed it away and walked next to him down the hallway and to the elevator. The two aurors then stepped inside of the metal box, standing in silence as the elevator moved around.

Usually the first direction that aurors took in cases was to interview people who know the suspect. Since Catherine was given the entire case to handle by herself, she was brainstorming an attack plan.

The door suddenly rang out, "Level 8: the Atrium." Catherine and Rufus promptly stepped out.

"The Minister came into the offices about half an hour ago," Catherine explained as she started to walk towards the fireplaces that lined the entrance corridor of the Atrium.

"About what?" Rufus asked, walking right next to her.

Catherine grabbed Rufus’s sleeve and pulled him to the side of the giant room. “You have to promise not to say a word to anyone, Scrimgeour. So help me if you do-”

“Alright! I got it…” Rufus said, wiping his now sweaty hands on his sweater. Catherine was scary when she was like this. 

“The Minister offered me the opportunity to lead the Hepzibah Smith case.”

The two of them then proceeded to stand in silence, Rufus taking that new information in. He knew how badly Catherine wanted to prove herself and, well, this was the perfect opportunity for her. 

“Damn, that case doesn’t even have a prime suspect, how are you going to do this?” Rufus inquired, trying to hide his excitement. If there was anything Rufus Scrimgeour specialized in other than leads, it was murder mysteries.

“Well, I’m first going to interview Tom Riddle and the people who know him best,” Catherine bluffed. _She had absolutely no plan on how to do this._ "That's why I wanted to ask you, Rufus. I need a little assistance with this case, and I thought you were the best fit," Catherine confessed as she held out the paper that only had two names: Elizabeth Fawley and Alphard Black. 

Elizabeth was a friend of Catherine’s when they were in school and Alphard Black was Catherine's fiance, who knew Tom when they were in school.

"Well there's some. You can ask Al tonight. We can call Elizabeth to have her come in sometime within the next week," Rufus said, looking at his watch, “Until then, we can interview Tom Riddle.”

"We?" Catherine asked, her hands moving to sit on her hips.

"You really think I'm going to let you do this alone?" Rufus asked, his eyes shimmering. He always got that look in his eye when he was excited about a case.

Catherine groaned, "Fine. But I should really get home. I'm so damn tired. And we need to be well-rested if we want to interview a ton of people."

The light in Rufus's eyes snuffed out and he replaced his obvious disappointment with a smile, "Okay, I hear you Auror Williams. Good night, Catherine!"

She smiled and apparated to her flat without another word.

**_42 Warbler St, Catherine’s Flat-_ **

Catherine landed on the pavement outside of the menacing building she called home. The building was an ugly shade of brown, the paint from the 20’s starting to come off in flakes.The random patch of grass in front of the flat was dry and the color of wheat. 

She stepped up to the door and dove into her purse to find her tiny key, almost casting _alohomora_ to save herself the time. After unlocking the door, she quietly walked into the narrow hallway. Her neighbor and landlady Penny stared at her.

Penny was no younger than sixty years old, with a cross nailed onto her flat door. She looked like an evil penguin, her gray hair pulled back so tight that her hairline was retreating back into her head. She seemed to be hellbent on the idea that was Catherine and Alphard were wizards. 

Catherine had almost cast spells in front of her numerous times, and Penny always was watching both her and Alphard with extreme focus. Alphard had also told Catherine about how Penny tried to pour holy water over his head one time while he was heading up the stairs. Nevertheless, it was Penny who allowed them to stay, so they had to be polite. Catherine gave the old lady a half-smile and trudged up the cramped stairs to get to her flat.

She opened up the creaky door and slid into the small apartment, sighing with relief. She immediately took her uncomfortable shoes off and walked to the kitchen, which was down a narrow hallway to her left. She could hear a humming coming from that room and walked in to find Alphard standing over a pot full of soup.

After school, she stayed with Alphard for many different reasons. The main reason was that they had both decided to get jobs at the Ministry and, with the surprising amount of N.E.W.T's the two had managed to get, they started training for their jobs right away. Catherine went into the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and Alphard chose to join the Department of Mysteries.

The humming stopped when Catherine leaned against the open doorway, causing a creak in the wood. Alphard slowly turned towards her, a wooden spoon in hand. Catherine took the time to look at her fiancé in full. Alphard stood a few inches taller than Catherine and was long and lanky. A mess of black hair sat on his head and he wore a disheveled dress shirt and tie with rumpled slacks.

"Long day?" Catherine asked.

"Definitely," he replied.

"I bet your day couldn't be as bad as mine," Catherine joked as she walked into the kitchen to hug him. He gave her a quick squeeze and reached for something in his pocket. It was a wax-sealed letter that had been ripped open.

"I dunno, mine was pretty terrible," Alphard said as he held it up.

"What's that?" Catherine asked as he handed it to her. Her smile vanished as she grabbed out the card inside. In only a few sentences, each one as vicious as the last, Catherine could see why he was so down:

_Dear Alphard,_

_I daresay that you have officially let down this family. I am horrified to say that mother had you burned off the family tree. You disgraced us, running off with that half-breed. I want you to never see my husband nor any other members of our family. Personally, I am disgusted with your behavior. As your sister, I take it as my responsibility to inform you of this family decision._

_Deepest regrets, Walburga_

"What?" Catherine asked, almost covering her mouth in surprise. Alphard had told her about how much he hated his family, but they hadn't formally disowned him yet.

She hugged him again, and then as an ice-breaker, Catherine said, "At least you don't have to head a case where Tom Riddle is currently the prime suspect."

"Wait. Tom Riddle?" Alphard asked, turning back around to tend to his soup. He grabbed out two bowls from their cupboard and looked at her in curiosity.

Catherine had expected Alphard to immediately change the subject about his family. He absolutely hated them, especially his sister Walburga. He was a member of the Black family, one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. These twenty-eight families were the purest of all wizards, their family trees so immaculate that inbreeding was a normal occurrence. The Blacks had been outraged when Al and Catherine, who was a half-blood, announced their engagement. The two of them had planned for an outrage.

Catherine explained everything that had happened that day while Al scooped out soup for them. He didn't interrupt aside from a few questions that Catherine answered with no effort. She knew that all of the answers to his questions would be made public the next day in the Daily Prophet.

Once Catherine was done, she was handed a bowl of soup. She smiled at him and walked with him to their tiny living room which was next to the kitchen. They plunked onto the couch and sipped at the soup. They kept each other's company most of the time.

Catherine looked at Al, who was silently drinking his soup as he watched a soap opera on their run-down television. Whenever he laughed, he would almost drop his bowl and spill it everywhere. She took another mouthful of the soup and watched the terrible show next to him. It was the only channel that they could get, but it was entertaining to watch the couples yell at each other.

It was nice to see Alphard get out of his shell; he was the more reserved one out of the both of them. He didn’t talk a lot and was very shy when Catherine tried to be intimate with him. They settled to put off being close to each other until they were financially stable enough. Money had become a big issue for the newly engaged couple. Since Al broke all ties with his family, there was no money for him to inherit. Additionally, the Ministry had been cutting salaries down by tenfold, leaving a very tiny flow of money for the two of them.

After a while of watching the TV, they got ready for sleep. Catherine was always the first to fall asleep because Al was a bit of an insomniac, but this time something plagued her: _why was Tom Riddle back in her life?_

She looked down at her fiance, who had surprisingly fallen asleep. He looked so peaceful as he slept, his hair surrounding him like a dark halo. She smiled and fell down onto her old satin pillow. 

When she finally did sleep, it was not something she expected to dream about.


End file.
